Study on the Liquid Seal Discharge Process in an Over-Pressurized Accident

In an over pressure accident, one or more pressurizer safety (or relief) valves will open due to the rapid pressure rise process. Once the safety (or relief) valves are open, the liquid seal will be discharged, and this will generate great discharge force to the downstream pipes. Multi-level protection is chosen using pressurizer safety (or relief) valves with different setpoint in most of Nuclear Power Plant, especially in the self-designed Generation-III Nuclear Power Plants. As the over pressure accident progresses, one or more safety (or relief) valves will be open. The downstream pipes will experience one or more times of impacts, which will influence the arrangement of the pipes. The whole discharge process is very complex, and the key influence factors are the pressure rise rate, safety (or relief) valve opening time, liquid seal temperature and volume, and the arrangement of the downstream discharge pipes. In present paper, liquid seal discharge process in an over pressure accident is studied. The pressure rise rate is so fast that three safety (or relief) valves will open one after another, which will generate three impacts on the downstream discharge pipes. It is found that for a specific design of Nuclear Power Plant, well design of the safety (or relief) valve setpoint is very important to the discharge force analysis results.